From pitch to premiere: 28 IDFA-supported titles at IDFA 2026

Each year, the IDFA harvest highlights films and new media projects selected for the festival that have previously received support through IDFA’s talent development programs, markets, platforms, and funding schemes.

Documentary projects can take years to develop. Along the way, filmmakers need time and space to experiment, opportunities to find collaborators, and funding to bring their ideas to life. IDFA supports projects at different stages of this process. IDFA Forum connects filmmakers with potential co-producers and financiers, with IDFA DocLab Forum presenting immersive and interactive works. IDFA DocLab supports new media artists through the DocLab Industry Track and new research & development program Shared Realities. 

Talent development program IDFA Project Space supports the development of filmmakers and their projects. The IDFA Bertha Fund provides funding and support for documentary projects at the development and (post)production stages. While some go on to premiere at IDFA, others find their way to audiences through selections at other festivals.

This year, 28 IDFA-supported film and new media projects feature in the IDFA 2026 selection, including 12 debut films. Three projects illustrate the different paths this support can take: Hello You by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy, Concrete Land by Asmahan Bkerat, and Regarding Memory and Neglect by Ricardo Martensen.

Concrete Land (2026) by Palestinian filmmaker Asmahan Bkerat follows the Najar family, one of the last Afro-Palestinian Bedouin families still living on the outskirts of Amman. As the Jordanian capital sprawls around them, three generations face an uncertain future: whether to hold on to their land or find a new place to call home. 

The development of this project is closely tied to IDFA, tracing the full arc of IDFA support—from talent development to funding. The project received IDFA Bertha Fund Classic support for production and post-production in 2020, participated in IDFA Project Space as part of the Development and Production category in 2021, and Bkerat presented the project during IDFA Forum Pitch in 2024.  

Concrete Land has now been selected for IDFA’s Best of Fests program.

How well do we know the person looking back at us in the mirror? In Hello You (2026), immersive artists May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy of Anagram turn self-recognition into an uncanny encounter. Through light, sound, and illusion, the installation explores how memories and expectations shape our self-image—and what happens when the familiar reflection begins to slip. 

From early prototype to premiering in competition, this project’s evolution is closely intertwined with IDFA. In 2024, the project was presented at IDFA DocLab Forum under the title Amorphous, where it won the DocLab Forum Award. That same year, Anagram brought an early prototype, The Body Amorphous, to DocLab Playrooms, where artists, professionals, and audiences are invited to test works-in-progress and contribute to the creative process. The feedback and audience input helped inform the work’s evolution.  

In 2026, Hello You is premiering as part of the IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction. 

“In 2024, we came to IDFA with a question: could an experience change the way someone feels in their own body? The DocLab Playroom gave us seven hours with the public to start finding out. Working with dance artist Kat Hawkins, we explored how our sense of our bodies could shift through play. There’s something valuable about having space to experiment while an idea is still taking shape.

The IDFA Forum Award gave the project encouragement and visibility; the Playroom gave us somewhere to get our hands dirty. That exploration helped lay the groundwork for Hello You, which premieres this year: an encounter with your own reflection and the strangeness of recognizing yourself. Returning to DocLab feels like continuing a conversation that began in that room two years ago.” – May Abdalla

In Regarding Memory and Neglect (2026), Brazilian filmmaker Ricardo Martensen follows families searching for the truth about the deaths and disappearances of their loved ones. From the exhumation of victims murdered during Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964–1985) to a mother seeking answers about her son, who was killed by police decades later, the film examines the struggle against official silence. Archival home movies bring the dead back to life, while those left behind continue to demand recognition and justice. 

Regarding Memory and Neglect received IDFA support at several stages of its development. He participated in IDFA Project Space twice, as part of the Development and Production category in 2020 and the Rough Cut category in 2024. The project received IDFA Bertha Fund Classic support for development in 2020 and production and post-production in 2022. Martensen presented the project at IDFA Forum Pitch in 2021.  

Regarding Memory and Neglect has now been selected for IDFA’s Frontlight program. 

“The development grant we received from the IDFA Bertha Fund in 2020 was the first investment in the project. We were amid the pandemic, under a government that had cut off the main funding channels for culture in Brazil. Receiving that support at such a moment was a breath of hope and a crucial incentive to keep making the film despite all the difficulties we were facing. 

Over the years, through IDFA Project Space, IDFA Forum, and further funding from the IDFA Bertha Fund, we gained invaluable guidance, creative exchange, and international connections. I can say that this film might never have existed without the IDFA ecosystem.” – Ricardo Martensen

Explore the full overview of films and new media projects in the IDFA harvest this edition. The harvest includes 15 projects that previously presented at IDFA Forum, including three projects presented at IDFA DocLab Forum and five projects supported through Shared Realities Consortium. 14 projects were previously supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund. Nine of the films have participated in IDFA Project Space. Several projects received support through multiple programs.

Meet the filmmakers attending IDFA 2026’s festival and markets whose work has previously been supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF).